Sunday, November 21, 2010

Buffalo Sliders with Oaxaca Queso and Roasted Poblano Chile

If you like sliders (mini burgers) then you will love these bite size burgers! Buffalo is the American Bison you have seen in the old west pictures. Buffalo now are free range herd animals that are raised on ranches. There are a few Native American tribes out west that raise and market buffalo too. Organic, free range and drug free is what Buffalo is all about. The meat is very lean and the buffalo burgers need to be cooked rare to medium rare or they will become very dry. The flavor is milder than deer yet more gamey than elk. I feel great, clean and strong after eating buffalo, unlike the not so great feeling I get after eating modern drug raised and force fattened beef.Italian BreadSlider Roll Recipe: It is easy to make slider rolls, but if you want to use pre made dinner rolls then they are good for this recipe too. If you have dough making experience, this will be easy. Add some dry or fresh yeast to 16 oz of luke warm water in a mixing bowl. (1 TBS of fresh or three tsp of dry) Set the bowl in a warm place like on top of a warm oven. When the yeast activates, add a couple teaspoons of sugar to proof the yeast. Add a small scoop of flour. Add 3 tsp of sea salt. Add 2 tsp of olive oil. Mix the dough starter with a spoon. Keep adding a little bit of flour at a time while stirring, till a loose dough is formed. Add a little more flour at a time while mixing with your fingers, till the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You will feel when the dough is starting to get elastic. It will stick to your hands when made correctly but that will change after rising twice. Cover the dough in the bowl with a dry towel and set the bowl on top of an oven with another towel under the bowl to protect it from too much heat. When the dough rises more than double, beat it down with your knuckles and gather the dough like a ball in the bowl. Cover the dough with a towel and let it rise again. When the dough rises the second time, beat the dough down and knead firmly with your hands for 1 minute. Place the dough on a floured counter top and roll it into a large ball shape. Cut the dough ball into small roll size portions. (About the size of a small plum.) Roll the small dough portions into small ball shapes. Place the dough balls on parchment paper that is on a baking pan. Allow the dough to rise and proof. Bake in a 400 degree oven till the slider buns become lightly golden colored.Recipe: Roast an oiled whole poblano pepper in a 350 degree oven, till the skin turns black. Peel the skin off under of the poblano pepper under cold running water and rinse off the seeds. Cut a few strips of the roasted poblano pepper and save the rest for another recipe. Set the poblano strips aside. Slice the slider rolls in half. Grill the tops and bottoms of the mini buns, till they become toasted. Spread a small amount of mayonnaise on the slider buns. Set a small piece of lettuce and thin slices of plum tomato on the bottom half of the slider rolls. Use a ring mold to form three mini buffalo burgers out of some ground buffalo meat. Heat a small splash of vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium heat. (Buffalo is so lean that you must cook them with oil, butter or grease.) Cook the buffalo sliders half way and then flip them over. Immediately place thin sliced Oaxaca Cheese on top of the sliders, so it will soften and melt as the meat finishes cooking. Cook the buffalo sliders till they are rare to medium rare. Set the buffalo sliders on top of the tomato slices on the slider rolls. Curl the roasted poblano strips and place one on top of each slider. Set the sliders on a plate and canter the slider roll tops against the buffalo burgers. Set a bed of lettuce on the plate and mound a pile of crispy shoe string yam fries on the lettuce.Yam Shoestring Fries Recipe: Very thinly slice a peeled yam and then cut the slices into long thin strips. Fry till crisp in 360 degree oil. Drain off the excess grease on a towel. Sprinkle sea salt on the fries. This plate of buffalo sliders are the best tasting sliders I have ever tasted! The buffalo has a much better flavor than beef. The plain mayonnaise does not detract the from the other flavors on the sliders. The Queso Oaxaca has an interesting flavor and the little bit of roasted poblano adds a lot of flavor. The buffalo sliders in the pictures were cooked rare. These buffalo meat sliders are great! ... Shawna